Amazon supersizes Kindle for textbooks, newspapers

Amazon's latest press event was used to roll out a large-format Kindle, along …

Amazon is developing a habit of placing its New York City press events at topic-appropriate venues. Its last one, during which it introduced the Kindle 2, was held in the Morgan Library. This time around, the setting was an auditorium at Pace University, which hinted that rumors of an educational initiative were on the mark. In fact, all the rumors turned out to be on the mark—there will be a new, large-screen Kindle DX on sale this summer, and it will be paired with a new effort by newspaper publishers to get more subscribers via the device. But the details of the publisher and education initiatives weren't available today, and the new device isn't vastly different from the Kindle 2.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos started things off by reiterating that the company's ultimate goal is to have every book ever written available wirelessly in under 60 seconds. So far, it's a bit short, having 275,000 e-books available at the moment. The good news, however, is that sales of those are up to 35 percent of Amazon's total where both a print and e-book version are available. Those numbers leaped after the Kindle 2 introduction; prior to that, they appear to have plateaued at under 15 percent.

Amazonian chieftain Jeff Bezos explains why the Kindle is as good as a book.

Bezos then went off on a bit of a weird tangent, suggesting that some sort of Kindle device would usher us into the truly paperless world. "Paper is worth the hassle of printing, because it's just better," Bezos said, standing in front of an image of an ink cartridge an saying "we sell a lot of those." Apparently, "all that light shining in your eyes" from active matrix screens makes for eye strain, and we'd all happily ditch both printing and reading on screen if we just had a the right combination of E Ink screen and software. I don't know what planet Bezos is living on, but I could spend an entire article outlining where that argument is off.

In any case, he used it as a launching pad to introduce the Kindle DX, the big-screen version of the device. With a 9.7-inch screen, it certainly can display documents in a more comfortable format, and it has been paired with a native PDF renderer that means the end of document conversion. Now, simply plug in the device to a computer via USB, drop the PDFs in place, and they're good to go. The DX also comes with 3.3GB of storage, meaning that you can happily store a pretty significant number of documents, provided they're not too image-heavy.

A standard-sized business card indicates the Kindle DX's scale.

The DX also has accelerometers, and the software will rotate the screen to match however you hold it. That's especially nice considering that the DX lacks the double-sided arrangement of buttons on the regular sized device. In another indication that the company is making strides when it comes to interface design, if you rotate it upside down, the four-way pointer adjusts so that directing the cursor still works as you'd expect it. To fit the bigger screen without turning the device into a cafeteria tray, the keyboard has been compressed vertically, and the keys are now wider ovals. They also have a more pleasant action, which will make things like taking notes easier to manage.

Content deals

And Amazon fully expects people to be taking notes with the device. Next fall, a number of universities will be running pilot programs with the DX; Bezos listed Arizona State, Case Western, Reed, Princeton, and the University of Virginia. Pace itself, the host of the event, apparently completed a deal too late to be included, but had someone in the lobby, announcing its participation. Pace may actually be the most interesting of the lot, as its student population is very ethnically and linguistically diverse, and generally commutes to and from classes. The campuses will have access to a decent collection of materials, since Amazon has cut deals with three leading providers of textbooks: Pearson, Cengage Learning, and Wiley.

What will these programs look like? Will the students get subsidized devices and texts? Nobody would say; Amazon spokespeople simply said each campus would describe the structure of its program when plans are finalized later this year. All that was said is that consumers expect their digital text to be cheaper than one that requires raw materials, and Amazon expects that textbook makers will adapt to consumer expectations.

A similar lack of detail characterized the deal with traditional print companies. The Boston Globe, New York Times, and Washington Post would all be starting pilot programs with the release of the DX, but all that was revealed about them was that they'd offer discounted rates to people willing to commit to long-term subscriptions. The Times' Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. came on the stage to say that the Kindle was an important step for newspapers, but dropped lots of hints that he didn't view it as the last step, saying, "we're launching trials to determine how best to use it." He also suggested that his program would be limited to people in areas where home delivery isn't an option, which would severely limit its scope.

Newspaper content looks much better when supersized.

So, what to make of the announcements? Given the lack of detail, it's really hard to say. It wasn't even clear whether the parties involved really know what they're doing; Barbara R. Snyder, president of Case Western, praised the device as bringing students into a new era where their textbook content and documents mingle. But she also said that the Kindle would let them exchange documents without the need for WiFi, while an Amazon spokesperson said that the only way to exchange documents involved tethering to a computer and working from there. You also can't browse the Web to a PDF and access it from the Kindle, meaning a trip to the desktop computer is needed in those cases, as well. If Amazon's vision is wireless access to everything, it clearly still has a lot of work to do.

As for the device itself, giving consumers another point on the balance between compact form factor and screen size is undoubtedly a good thing, as is the built-in PDF reader. The documents chosen by Amazon to highlight the feature looked excellent, but I'll reserve judgment until I put a few of my own on one of the devices. In all other respects, however, it's just a big version of the Kindle 2. Well, all respects but one, and that may be the deal-breaker: a hefty $489 price tag.

93 Reader Comments

I never really considered the size. That's far too small for my own interests. You would think they might go for something around A4 sized. Why something so close to the size it already is? A bit ticked off. Looks like I have a long wait.

Inside rumor has it that CWRU freshman science classes will use some of these Kindle DX units, and the engineering school would like them to end up in the hands of computer science students. Unfortunately that's not my major

As far as color and wifi, I'm guessing those are too big of a tradeoff for battery life. Too bad, because lots of textbooks benefit from color illustrations, and students have the privilege of wifi-blanketed campuses.

I can't justify the $500 price tag. For one thing it's too specialized (lots of really good netbooks are significantly cheaper), and I would have to spend a decent amount of money to actually make use of it.

Why the hell don't they preload this thing with a library of public domain works?

Do we know if the screen is glass, like the smaller Kindle, Sony, and other current e-ink displays? There are enough reports of easily damaged screens now to make me worry a bit about a larger version.

Originally posted by jestrzcap:Why the hell don't they preload this thing with a library of public domain works?

I'm guessing because Amazon would have to front the cost of digitizing those works in the first place, and then to recoup it they'd have to raise the price of the unit even further. But yeah, it would be very nice.

They finally got the PDF thing right. Now, it's just ludicrously priced. Seems like they are on the verge of something good, but just don't want to get it completely right. Maybe they're trying to bake in the loss of book sales since it does PDF.

"Paper is worth the hassle of printing, because it's just better," Bezos said, standing in front of an image of an ink cartridge an saying "we sell a lot of those." Apparently, "all that light shining in your eyes" from active matrix screens makes for eye strain, and we'd all happily ditch both printing and reading on screen if we just had a the right combination of E Ink screen and software. I don't know what planet Bezos is living on, but I could spend an entire article outlining where that argument is off.

One of the things that annoys me to no end about the iPhone is that when I choose to read a website lying down in bed (something I like to do regularly), the accelerometer kicks in and I have no way to lock it down so that the page I'm reading remains in the same orientation. This became irritating enough that I no longer bother reading lying down with the iPhone.

For a dedicated e-book reader like the Kindle, however, this would be an absolute necessity for me. The larger format really tempts me now. So: does anyone know if you can lock the accelerometer on the device to avoid the change of orientation?

Originally posted by wallinbl:Also, for the amount I'd be interested in laying hands on one before buying. Would it kill them to sell in stores so that I'm not spending that much money on something I've only seen pictures of?

++ !! At that price, it just isn't very likely that I'm going to risk it not being the right device for me.

Even without brick and mortar, retail outlet availability, it seems to me that they could distribute a few demo units regionally, to their academic and publishing partners and clients. I'd be willing to drive to the office of my local newspaper, or to the campus of a nearby university or college, or to an actual (gasp) book store just to lay hands on and mitigate the $500 risk.

edit: and how could I not mention public libraries? Now, there's a huge marketing weapon, just waiting to be wielded. Send Kindle DX units to public libraries for on-premise use, if not for loan. Users that like them will buy them, if they can afford them.

Originally posted by wallinbl:Also, for the amount I'd be interested in laying hands on one before buying. Would it kill them to sell in stores so that I'm not spending that much money on something I've only seen pictures of?

++ !! At that price, it just isn't very likely that I'm going to risk it not being the right device for me.

Even without brick and mortar, retail outlet availability, it seems to me that they could distribute a few demo units regionally, to their academic and publishing partners and clients. I'd be willing to drive to the office of my local newspaper, or to the campus of a nearby university or college, or to an actual (gasp) book store just to lay hands on and mitigate the $500 risk.

Amazon has a "see a Kindle in your city" program for just this purpose. There is (or at least was) a link on the Kindle 2 page, and you could go sign up to meet a local Kindle owner at a coffee shop and try out the device.

One of the Seattle papers also did a hands-on demo shortly after the Kindle 2 was released, where a staff writer who owned a Kindle invited anyone interested to stop by a meeting area on a specific evening for a Q&A session and hands-on opportunity.

Originally posted by Crazy Diamond:No way college text books go down in price either. Who are they kidding?

I think they will go down once they relize you can't sell them after you are done with them. I doubt they will come down much but I'm sure they will come down just enough to make it almost cost effective to buy the kindle when looked at over 4 years of schooling.

Almost $500, and it's not wifi capable? PDA's even offer built-in wireless. Something like this you would want to be wireless, so you can keep your library on your personal comp / server, and just wireless feed up books you want to read to your kindle without having to plug it in. Am I the only one who thinks they're making 2 steps forward, 1 step back here?

There will soon be universities full of cash strapped, Kindle(e-reader) equipped students and an expectation by publishers for them to pay close to textbook prices for what some view as 1s and 0s. After textbook DRM is broken, textbooks will replicate across college campuses so fast publisher heads will spin.

Publishers not going digital (only providing print versions) will find 'scans' of their books online, as these new Kindle(e-reader) equipped users will demand portability, backups, and affordable books.

This market for free ebooks will, ironically, be created by the publishers themselves as they initially price them above what reasonable people feels they should pay for them.

Luckily for Amazon, the demand for Kindle(e-readers) will increase under the guise of 'free books'. We have seen this before though, I point you in the direction of Ipods(mp3 players) and their relation to music(mp3s). Amazon's current DRM is just a ruse for publishers. How can they possibly have any real interest in limiting what books can be read on a Kindle?

TL;DR: Look to music industry to see the future of publishing industry.

P.S. I think books in there current incarnation are worthless in digital form. Publishers must be creative if they want to survive in the digital age. Will post more later.

The price is so high because it includes a Sprint EVDO connection that I guess is good for the life of the device or until Sprint dies or the signal band for the built-in radio gets phased out.

You'd think that since so many folks are balking at the price, Amazon would offer a cheaper wifi-only version. Personally, I really like the Kindle on paper (heh) but the reality is that there are too many lock-ins for it to be worth getting.

Originally posted by Crazy Diamond:No way college text books go down in price either. Who are they kidding?

I think they will go down once they relize you can't sell them after you are done with them. I doubt they will come down much but I'm sure they will come down just enough to make it almost cost effective to buy the kindle when looked at over 4 years of schooling.

Hah! Some publishers are already selling DRMed PDF copies of books for 95-99% of print price. Often, Amazon's new price for the hardcover is lower than the publisher's price for the protected PDF. In one case, I saw that Cengage was selling a 6 month, time limited digital copy for only $5 less than the $160 price of a hardcover.

Originally posted by flat otter:The price is so high because it includes a Sprint EVDO connection that I guess is good for the life of the device or until Sprint dies or the signal band for the built-in radio gets phased out.

And you pay for the content you receive over that connection. No need to build the cost into the device when it's built into the books.

yeah I get the price is what they can get away with but it is still brutal for early adopters. I would jump on it if it were under $200. but for $500 I agree it should have color (I get the tech isn't likely ready though), wifi, and the books should be considerably less than the paper counterparts. no printing, no shipping, and yet similar pricing on the electronic versions? gah, thats just insulting. when are we going to see some clones coming down the pipe? if this type of device takes off like netbooks we should be seeing them everywhere on the cheap.